Saturday, April 05, 2014

A little Mumblety Peg history

Mumblety Peg was a punk band from Fort Worth, Texas, active between 1990 and 1994.Matt Hembree (bassist extraordinaire and Mumblety Peg fan): They were messy and sloppy and drunk and all kinds of fun. Like a low-rent Ramones from Fort Worth. Hard to imagine a "low rent Ramones" but that's what they hit like. The first time I saw them was at the opening and closing night of Melissa Kirkendall and Kelly Parker's club On The Thrift. Open for one night, closed by the fire marshal.

Jeff Satterly (guitarist and vocalist): I worked at Sound Warehouse and Hardy would come in a lot. Hardy introduced me to Chris Emory and we formed the Losers. Hardy and Chris had talent. I learned three chords and wanted to be a punk band from Fort Worth.

Chris Emory (original drummer): We were all working together at Sound Warehouse and just started jamming together one evening after work and it just clicked. Each of the three of us were into some totally different styles of rock but we all had a great love of simple hard charging punk and offbeat music. I had just been in a band with the amazing [prog rock guitarist] Bill Pohl, so playing with the Peg was a complete turn around for me musically, but I loved it!

Jeff Satterly: When the Losers broke up, I started playing with Michael Parker. I got Chris and Hardy in on it. We had our first gig lined up and Michael moved to Cali. I got Jeff [Adcock] to sing and just played punk covers. Our third practice was our first gig.

Jeff Adcock (original vocalist): We got a gig and then started practicing for it. That was at a club Mark Trimmier was running out in Granbury of all places. I've known Jeff Satterly since the late 80's. We bonded over our love for Queen. Specifically, Brian May. I knew Hardy before Jeff, when we both worked together at IMC (Akai, Jackson, Charvel, etc.) in the speaker shop.

Jeff Satterly: Jeff left when the first jam room payment was due. We played three gigs with him. Hardy and I just split the set and started singing. After the first year, Emory had a lot of bands and no time. Chris Rayburne [replaced him] in the fall of '91.

Jeff Adcock: I was only in the band for a few months, then Jeff took over singing/playing guitar. I moved on to start Anorexic Cafe with my brother and a couple of other friends.

Jeff Satterly: I had one [original] song at our first gig. The first two years, we made a living playing Hard-Ons songs. Sound Warehouse was a great place to learn back then. No one back then had the internet and in Fort Worth, no one know we were playing covers. Kids would come to shows and bring me LPs they thought I would like in '90 and '91. Like Sweet Baby and Green Day. Then you realize that you must start writing.

Jeff Adcock: "Power Pop Punk" was Jeff's label and I'd agree with that call. We definitely had a Ramones/Hard-Ons thing, mixed with some Soul Asylum/Buffalo Tom vibe, too.Chris Emory: We never made any quality recordings in a bona-fide studio when I was in the band. We only recorded some stuff on simple 4-track recorders in our rehearsal spaces (one of which was next to the fledgling Toadies' rehearsal space and most of them also worked at Sound Warehouse at the time -- we opened for most of their early gigs).

Jeff Satterly:Our first cassette was called $50 Bucks. Then Planet Dallas later on. We were more a live band. Studios always tried to make us sound like whoever was popular. Never got it right, I thought.

Hardy Bennett (bassist and vocalist): We came in at the crossover time, when metal and punk were crossing over. We were actually the first punk band to play at Joe’s Garage. We’d all come out of the metal scene, getting into Black Flag, Misfits, and the Ramones – total Ramones fans! – put a little punk band together, and started playing Joe’s. There was a scene at the HOP for a while; we were playing there. That was where I really started getting into it. I’d actually been in a glam-metal band at one time, with the poofy hair, the spandex, a gun belt, a leather vest and cowboy boots.

Jeff Satterly: In the beginning [we played with] all death metal bands at Joe's Garage. Darrin [Kobetich, then with Hammer Witch] gave us our first gig there. It was great to be different. All the metal bands' girlfriends liked us. We got the Toadies in there and things stated to blow up. We played with Ed Hall, Bat Mastersons, Pop Poppins and a bunch of HOP bands we had nothing in common with. Then we started getting our friends to play like Jeff Adcock's Anorexic Cafe, Southpaw, Jon Teague's first group Little Boy, and so many more.

Hardy Bennett: Once we started headlining Joe’s, then we were able to start bringing other bands in. We brought in the Dragworms and the Toadies, started trying to create sort of a punk scene. Mumblety Peg was really following in the footsteps of Lickity Split, which was Carey Blackwell’s first band. So we weren’t the first punk band in Fort Worth, but we started paving the way for more bands to get into the scene.

Jeff Satterly: We played for a year and a half and cleared most places we played. Hardy and I both would pile stacks (both cabinets) in the HOP and crank it. I had a 1970 Plexi that was the best amp I ever had. After Nirvana broke, all kinds of clubs were calling the three piece punk band they used to hate. We played the HOP a lot. Mad Hatter's and the Crossing were very cool Fort Worth clubs for original music. Freedom Club (a reggae club), Trees, and some places that were not even clubs. Sometimes we would play to a full house. There was a great scene happening and we were right there. Sometimes not. TV theme songs you might get one night, or a Ramones show, or Hardy beating someone up has happened during a few shows. Carl Pack [later of the Gideons] started singing by closing our set. It always seemed like the high point. The first two years, he would say he didn't like us but show up every time.

Jeff Satterly: Drunk. We drank a lot. That became our biggest problem. Hardy and I were older than most of the bands around. We already had our drugs days. We were a fun band to come drink with because you never knew what was going to happen. Hardy was unhappy with our unsuccess. Tensions were high for a few weeks. We played our last show at the HOP with the Nixons and never talked again for years.

Jeff Adcock: Mumblety Peg is the only band to play all of Kelly Parker's clubs -- The Axis, Mad Hatter's, The Impala, The Engine Room, and The Thrift (which got shut down right after their set, and just before the Toadies played...Kelly didnt have a "dance" permit...the mosh pit was considered dancing by the FWPD).

Chris Emory: We definitely generated some active mosh pits! The Cartoon Lounge gig in Monroe, Louisiana with Salem (metal band) was wild. Might not ought to talk about some of that debauchery!

Jeff Satterly: If you saw Peg once you probably didn't get it. If you saw us a ten times I bet you saw a one or two memorable shows. Playing two to three shows a week for beer was FUN enough for me, and the best times.

Jeff Satterly will perform at the Harlyn Hill Memorial Benefit Concert at Lola's on Sunday, April 13th. Chris Emory is a photographer; you can see his work on Facebook as Sundog Art Photography.

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About Me

I'm writing an autobiography in record reviews. I blog at
stashdauber.blogspot.com.
I've written about music for publications (hard copy and online)
including the New York Observer, Dallas Observer, Fort Worth Weekly, I-94 Bar, First Church of Holy Rock and
Roll, Polish Jazz (Poland), Shindig (UK), Funhouse (Italy), and The Big Takeover.